[Solved] Maintenance - Consent Order and University

Hi there

With consent orders decided in court rather than through the CSA this can be the case. The fact that the wording says full time education could be interpreted as including university. Under CSA rules the wording is different and it states that maintenance is paid for children up until 20 as long as they are in full time non advanced education. Uni is classed as advanced and so would not qualify.

Had you opened a case with the CSA whilst your son was still at school or college this would override the court order but as your son has left non advanced education I doubt they would allow you to open a case at this point, you could call them and try though!

The other alternative is to take it back to court for a variation.

Thank you for your information. Since this is a non CSA case I am worried about having to pay costs for being taken to court if his mother has a case to enforce the order to pay until my son leaves Uni.
Is it true then that since I have a Consent Order for my son that I could be liable to pay maintenance for my son during his University and if so when will my payments stop? (Sorry if I am repeating myself as I can't believe I am in this situation. I thought maintenance would stop at the end of school.) As soon as he stops Uni? Or after the summer holidays at the end of Uni?

I find it hard to understand that a Consent Order is so different to any CSA rules on when maintenance stops.
I am not sure what to do now.
Is it possible I could get a variation of the Consent Order without going to court? Or do I have to go to court to get the Consent Order changes if she will accept a reduction? I don't think she will want to go to court so I could try to negotiate on how much maintenance to pay.
What do you think?

Many thanks for your help

You could try a bluff...write to her and state the CSA rules on maintenance stopping once a child enters advanced education. I'm pretty sure you can find proof of that online and print it off and attach it to the letter.
Then you could either tell her you wish to pay your son directly to help him through Uni, or ask her to renegotiate, make a lesser offer and say that if it goes back to court you will use the current rules on maintenance to argue that the consent order be quashed in which case she won't get anything.

Hello Tino

The Child Maintenance Service rules state that maintenance should be paid up until a child reaches 16 or until 20 if they are still in full-time, non-advanced education. Full-time is classed as a minimum of 12 hours per week and non-advanced is education up to and including A-level standard.

However, if your Consent Order states something different from that, you would have to abide by the rules in that order as you cannot now apply to the Child Maintenance Service because your son no longer qualifies under their rules.

It is possible to change the terms of your Consent Order but to do this you'll need to get legal advice. This usually results in going back to court to set out the application on a standard form. The court will then consider any changes.

For advice on changing a Consent Order you could contact Community Legal Advice, the Government funded confidential legal service, https://www.gov.uk/civil-legal-advice.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have a web application, ‘Sorting out separation’. It aims to make it much easier for separating and separated parents (and childless couples) to find the support they need, when and where they need it, and encourages them to collaborate on a range of issues. The link is http://www.dad.info/divorce-and-separation/sorting-out-separation.

Regards

William

We are divorced already so can I still go for help with these organisations?
Do you think if she agrees these organisations will sort out a change to the Consent Order payments?

Thank you

I'd contact them and see what they say - I can't see that being divorced should bar you from getting advice.